The conventional self-closing drawer slide includes a drawer member, an intermediate member, a cabinet member, and a conventional self closing mechanism. The drawer slide facilitates the opening and closing of a drawer in a cabinet. Typically, the drawer slide is mounted between a side of a drawer and a sidewall of a cabinet, with the drawer member affixed to the drawer, and the cabinet member affixed to the cabinet.
The conventional self closing mechanism includes a slide component slidably mounted on the cabinet member of the drawer slide and spring biased in the closing direction of the drawer slide, and an engagement component fixedly mounted on the drawer member of the drawer slide. When the drawer slide is in the closed position, the engagement component is fully engaged with the slide component. As the drawer slide is pulled open, the engagement component pulls the slide component in the opening direction of the drawer slide against the spring force. When the slide component reaches a certain point, it locks into position and releases the engagement component. The slide component remains in the locked position until it is released by the engagement component when the drawer slide is pushed back to a closed position. Once it is released, the spring biased slide component, now back in full engagement with the engagement component, pulls the engagement component in the closing direction of the drawer slide, thereby pulling the drawer slide to a closed position.
The conventional drawer slide has significant drawbacks. To illustrate one drawback, suppose the drawer slide has a width x, and the sidespace within which it is to be mounted (the space between the side of the drawer and the sidewall of the cabinet) is x+y. Ideally, y is 0, but in many cases, y is greater than 0, and the drawer slide does not fit perfectly within the sidespace. For this reason, the conventional drawer slide is designed so that it can be expanded to a maximum width, x+ymax, before it can no longer function properly.
However, as y increases, the distance between the engagement component on the drawer member and the slide component on the cabinet member increases. As a result, once the sidespace reaches a certain width that is less than x+ymax, although the drawer slide remains functional, the self closing mechanism does not because the engagement component can no longer reliably engage with the slide component.
Another drawback of the conventional self closing mechanism is that, when mounted within the cabinet member of a drawer slide, it allows the intermediate member to slam against it. Excessive and/or repeated slamming can damage the self closing mechanism and cause it to malfunction.
Another drawback of the conventional self closing mechanism is that it has a high profile such that, when it is mounted within the cabinet member of a drawer slide, it does not allow the intermediate member and/or the drawer member to slide over it. This results in a decreased sliding length with respect to the drawer and intermediate members.